30 October 2008
editorial
Lagos — Lightening, they say, rarely strikes twice at the same place. But this apparent truism has been put to a lie with wins on two successive occasions of the annual Africa Prize for Good Leadership by two comparatively unheralded and not too continentally known ex-leaders, from the Southern African region.
The first to win the Mo Ibrahim good leadership prize was former Mozambique's President Joaquim Chissano, in spite of being in power for 18 years.
For this year's prize, another ex-leader from the Southern African region is again the winner. The 2008 winner, Festus Gontebanye Mogae, is not exactly as big a household name as Mozambique's Chissano, whose originating Marxist political beaming endeared him to world youth but marked him for global media attention and the odd castigation.
Ironically, it was Chissano's ability to peacefully transit Mozambique from Marxism to the Western free market model as much as leading his country out of a devastating civil war that earned him the 2007 African leadership prize.
But Festus Mogae is another kettle of fish altogether and a different, transformational leader solidly rooted in the prevailing world economic orthodoxy.
Educated in Oxford as an economist, Mogae entered public service only after a career at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). After that, he as Vice President for six years before running and becoming President of Botswana for 10 years, stepping down from office in April 2008 without, it is said, trying to use the constitutional gimmick to extend his rule.
Former United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Kofi Annan who chairs the Mo Ibrahim Prize Committee had announced that Mogae was exemplary for his leadership on the health and economic issues of his people.
"Botswana," he said, "demonstrates how a country with natural resources can promote sustainable development with good governance in a continent where too often mineral wealth has become a curse."
This is no mean feat for a humble technocratic who, while in and out of office, no one heard of his exotic gothic mansion at home or abroad nor of his investments and illegal Swiss coded accounts or harems as is common and true with majority of Africa's current and ex-leaders. Many had, besides raping their countries also committed severe crimes against humanity, and live in perpetual fear and dread of arrest by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of justice.
As the world's largest producer of diamonds, Mogae made sure that his country and people benefited from its mineral wealth.
He encouraged local downstream operations in polishing and cutting of the diamonds before eventual export: this way Botswanans benefited from the profits of not exporting raw, uncut diamonds that further exported jobs.
It was in the area of health, which many know Botswana for, that Mogae showed commitment and resolve instead of just talking of the HIV-AIDS pandemic that has hit Africa.
From an estimated 23.9 percent of the adult population infected with HIV, the second world's highest after Swaziland, Mogae embarked on drastic reduction of the statistic.
Today, it is said that the number of children infected with HIV by their mothers dropped from 40 percent to four percent. AIDS drugs are available to those who need them. These life-saving anti-retroviral are known locally as "Mogae's tablets."
This achievement is a far cry from the run of leaders Africa is used to, who steal, cheat, kill and maim to remain in power until death or a coup de'tat dislodges them.
We join in congratulating Mr Festus Mogae who was chosen among his peers by a committee made up of former U.N. and O.A.U. Secretaries-General, Heads of States and eminent global personalities like Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland.
Particular praise should also go to Sudan-born Mo Ibrahim who in spite of the despicable record of his country's leaders in Darfur and Southern Sudan, still had the presence of mind to deploy his considerable mobile phone fortune to encouraging good leadership in Africa, the continent of his birth.
By his win, Mogae will get a solid $5m for his efforts spread over 10 years and a further $200,000 for life thereafter. Additionally, the foundation will support to the tune of $200,000 annually for 10 years any causes that Festus Mogae will support.
It is conceivable to view the sum of $5m as paltry compared with what even a local government chairman in Nigeria can snaffle in a few months of mis-governance.
However, the whole Mo Ibrahim good leadership Prize should not be seen just in terms of cash.
After all, an African adage cautions that a good name is better than wealth. Herein lies the significance of the Mo Ibrahim Prize and Mr Mogae's win.
It is a tonic to energize other leaders to serve their people instead of stealing them blind and for them to leave a legacy of good name rather than gothic monstrosities that crumble like Shelly Percy's Ozymandias' statue that ruts and decays in the plains of history.
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